Learning Objective
By the end of this guide, you'll know how to generate a lead list in lemlist by starting an AI campaign, selecting the lookalike finder lead source, pasting a LinkedIn profile URL, reviewing AI-suggested leads, and adding them to your campaign.
Why This Matters
Finding the right leads is time-consuming. Manually searching LinkedIn, building lists, and exporting contacts can take hours—and you can still miss ideal prospects.
This workflow uses lemlist AI to generate a lead list by finding prospects similar to a “best prospect” LinkedIn profile.
Benefits:
✅ Save time – Reduce manual prospecting and list building
✅ Improve targeting – Find leads similar in role, seniority, and company attributes
✅ Increase reply rates – Better targeting leads to more relevant outreach
Prerequisites
Before you start:
You have a lemlist account with access to AI campaign creation
You have a LinkedIn profile URL of a real prospect/customer that represents your ideal customer profile
You want to create an AI campaign (this lead list generation happens during AI campaign creation)
How It Works
Step-by-step:
You start an AI campaign
You choose a lead source (lookalike finder)
You paste a LinkedIn profile URL for your “best prospect”
lemlist AI analyzes the profile and searches for similar contacts
You review the suggested leads and keep only the best matches
You continue to add those leads into your AI-generated campaign
The closer the LinkedIn profile is to your ideal customer, the better the AI results.
Step-by-Step: Create a Lead List from a LinkedIn Profile
Step 1: Start an AI campaign
Go to Campaigns, then click Create campaign. From the campaign creation screen, click Create AI campaign to begin.
Step 2: Add your company details
Fill in your company name and website, then click Continue.
Step 3: Choose your lead source (lookalike finder)
In Lead sources, select Add leads with lemlist lookalike finders, then click Continue.
Step 4: Paste a LinkedIn profile URL (your “best prospect”)
Paste the LinkedIn profile URL of your best prospect, then click Find profile and Continue.
Example LinkedIn URL format:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-smith-12345678/
Step 5: Let AI search for similar leads
lemlist will search through millions of profiles to find matches. This may take a few moments.
Step 6: Review the suggested leads
Once results are ready, click Enter focus mode to review to check lead details before adding them to your campaign.
Step 7: Remove irrelevant leads (recommended)
Open a lead to review their details. If a lead isn’t a fit, click the Exclude this lead (trash) icon.
Step 8: Continue to add the lead list to your campaign
When you’re satisfied with the list, click Continue to proceed.
Step 9 (Optional): Enrich your leads
If you want lemlist to find contact details, choose whether to enable Enrich lead email and/or Enrich lead phone number, then continue.
Step 10: Finish AI campaign setup (pain points, value proposition, copy rules)
Continue through the AI campaign creation steps by selecting your audience pain points, confirming your value proposition, and choosing your copywriting rules (tone, language, and signature).
Step 11: Choose an outreach strategy and review your sequence
Select the outreach strategy that fits your goals (for example, Email + LinkedIn + Phone), then review the generated sequence and click Go to my campaign.
Choosing the Right LinkedIn Profile
Tips for selecting your best prospect:
✅ Use a real customer or closed-won lead – This usually produces the most accurate lookalikes
✅ Match your ICP – Industry, company size, role, and seniority should align with who you sell to
✅ Pick specific job titles – More specific titles typically improve match quality
✅ Avoid outliers – Don’t use profiles that are far outside your target (too niche, too senior/junior) unless that’s intentional
❌ Don’t use your own profile – Use a prospect/customer profile that represents your target
Troubleshooting
Issue: AI found too few leads
Fix:
Your best prospect may be too niche (role, industry, or location)
Try a different LinkedIn profile with a more common job title or broader industry match
Issue: AI found irrelevant leads
Fix:
Your selected profile may not represent your ICP accurately
Try another best prospect profile that better fits your target
Exclude irrelevant leads during review before clicking Continue
Issue: LinkedIn URL doesn’t work
Fix:
Make sure it’s a LinkedIn profile URL (not a company page or post)
Use this format:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-smith-12345678/Copy the URL from your browser address bar and try again
Optimization Tips
Test multiple “best prospect” profiles: Create a couple of AI campaigns using different LinkedIn profiles and compare lead relevance.
Review before you enrich: Exclude poor-fit leads first to avoid spending credits enriching contacts you won’t message.
Start small: Launch a smaller batch first to validate quality before scaling.